


A Silent Scream

by Lucy112235



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: A very deadly AU, Circus, Deadly Fish, Eva and Oli and Lele and Sierra and Tim and Matt I love you please don't kill me, Multi, Someone please give these kids a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-18 18:57:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20317873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucy112235/pseuds/Lucy112235
Summary: dis·con·so·late/ˌdisˈkäns(ə)lət/1. without consolation or comfort.Sometimes, or all the time, we don't always get our happy endings.





	A Silent Scream

**Author's Note:**

> Another super angsty one-shot coming your way! *silently cries*

He’s sitting there, biting his lip, eyes wide open as he glances, terrified, at the water below him. She can tell he doesn’t like the sight, and heck,  _ nobody does,  _ because actual  _ flesh eating fish  _ are in there. Because those exist in this hellhole.

Her own words echo in her mind as he looks at her and their other friends, fear flashing in his big brown eyes.

_ "I can't even juggle  _ two _ balls," Oli complains. "Let alone three." _

_ Eva looks him square in the eye. "Me neither. But you're going to know how to juggle today, because you're going to survive." _

She remembers praying to God that he wouldn’t give up. She prayed to everything that he would do ok, and granted, he didn’t, but neither did Tim. 

But now, Oli’s high above a tank of flesh-eating fish, looking scared out of his mind, however he seems to be trying to hide it with a mask of composure. Tim’s mask of confidence seems to be holding up stronger, but she isn’t fooled by either of them.

Oli  _ can’t  _ die. She can’t lose him. Not after four of her friends, all already dead. He’s the voice of reason, the one who hasn’t lost his mind. He and Lele are the people she trusts more than anyone else. Even Sierra. If either of them die, she’ll lose it. And she cares about him way more than she’s willing to admit.

"You will either boo or cheer for each performer," the ringmaster explains, ridiculously happy, to the only now interested audience. "Whoever gets the most boos goes down in the tank!"

Eva knew this was coming. But it doesn’t make it any better. She’s clenching her hand so hard it’s turning white as Joey and Sierra and Lele begin to discuss who deserves to get  _ eaten alive.  _ Even if they never say those words, it means the same thing, really.

Joey sighs. "I don't know who did better," he whispers, not so much giving a glance in Tim or Oli’s direction.

"Timothy was the one who performed the best," Lele notes. Eva isn’t sure why she’d taking Tim’s side, as she was accusing him for the better half of the night, but she shrugs it off, trying to ignore her friend’s conflict of opinion, as much as the truth that’s creeping up Eva’s spine that Lele’s right. He did do better. But that doesn’t matter. Oli’s  _ got  _ to survive.

"Timothy did do better,” Joey agrees with Lele.

"Okay, that doesn't matter!" Sierra hisses. "This is more than a circus act."

"So you're not cheering for Timothy?"

"No," She adjusts her gloves, turning her nose up, like, well, an  _ Heiress. _

“I gotta cheer for Oli,” Eva says quietly, agreeing with Sierra. She tries to ignore the fact that either way, she’s basically dooming someone to  _ die. _

_ But it’s okay,  _ she tries to convince herself as she pushes the thought of Tim being eaten alive to the back of her mind.  _ One more death, one more artifact, and then this will all be over. _

“Performer number one! Oli!” the Ringmaster shouts. 

Sierra cheers, not very loudly, but she does. Lele, Matt, and Joey are all clapping, and no one seems to be that loud (not including the booing), so Eva takes it upon herself to cheer as loud as she can. She’s yelling Oli’s name, and she can see him flash her a weak smile, and she just hopes it’s enough.

“Performer number two! Timothy!”

Matt and Lele cheer-  _ my god, they agree, it’s a miracle-  _ and Joey claps nonchalantly again, as if this is just a play being put on by a bunch of middle schoolers. Eva feels awful as she claps for Tim. Sure, she likes Oli more, but Tim hasn’t done anything wrong, however suspicious Sierra has been of him. But that’s just Sierra’s nature. Anything that she can’t explain, she rules off as untrustworthy.

And then it hits Eva.  _ Oh god. Someone’s about to die. Oli or Tim is about to die. Oh god. _

“All right,” the Ringmaster strokes his chin, and she wants to slap that creepy grin off his face for taking pleasure in what’s about to happen. “Let’s consider this. I think…”

Time slows to a crawl as Oli looks down at the water, and back up at her, and the fact that one of her friends is about to get eaten alive is a little too much for her, and she can’t help but let tears well up in her eyes as she looks from Oli to Tim and then back to Oli.

She doesn’t cry. She doesn’t cry.  _ I don’t cry. _

_ “Both  _ shall go down!”

The seats in the danks both drop, and all bets are off. 

Everyone’s screaming, but Eva can’t hear a thing. She’s screaming and sobbing and hysterical and she’s furious and shocked out of her mind and in despair and she’s so disconsolate that she can’t even tell the difference. 

_ Oli’s… Tim’s… both of them are… _

She can’t look away as she sees a blur of brownish-greenish flurries attacking Oli and Tim as she can vaguely hear them screaming. She’s praying for a miracle, for them both to emerge, to see Oli’s caring eyes and Tim’s stupid grin and for everything to be ok, but nothing happens. Eva can  _ see  _ the remains of what The Big Game Hunter once was.

_ This isn’t fair,  _ she thinks. It’s all she can think.  _ It isn’t fair. It isn’t fair. It isn’t  _ fair.

The sort of distant hearing wears off. Matt makes no sound, just covering his head with his hands. Lele’s screaming so loud it seems like her voice is going hoarse, and Sierra’s a ball of tears and blubbers on the wooden bench. Eva thinks she can hear an “I’m sorry” from the Heiress, but at this point, she doesn’t care.

The audience is cheering, and Eva wants to make them  _ all  _ drop in those tanks. They’re assholes. Two good, innocent people are  _ dead  _ due to this sick, twisted excuse of a show, and they’re cheering like they just won a car on Oprah.

“Well,” the Ringmaster smiles, and Eva doesn’t just want to punch him, she wants to knock him out with his own twisted grin. “Looks like we got a show after all! You may receive the artifact.”

Eva’’s gripping Lele’s hand, trying not to cry any more as the Ringmaster hands Joey the artifact. And suddenly, they’re all running, and Lele manages to drag the broken Journalist along with them.

They all walk back to the house. No one says anything, and they’re all sort of hunched as Eva gives one last look back to the tent, as does Matt. Somehow, she manages to stumble into the living room, but immediately flops on the couch, holding her head in her hands.

"Omigod," Joey gasps, placing the last artifact on the mantelpiece. "We got it."

Matt struggles to sound composed. "What do we do now?"

Silence.

"Well, I don't know about you guys," Lele says quietly. "But... I'm really tired. Can we just take a break? Or something?"

"Yeah..." Joey nods solemnly.. "Let's take ten minutes, and then let's meet back here to do the ritual."

The group disperses, Joey heading upstairs while Matt, Lele, and Sierra traveled across the first floor. Eva doesn’t move. She stays in the living room, and eventually looks up, and suddenly, sees a flash of brown fur.

_ Is it- could it- _

It’s not. Of  _ course  _ it’s not. He’s dead. Gone. And he’s not coming back.

But in the corner of her eye, she can see the fur, unmoving. Eva turns around, tears welling in her brown eyes, and picks up The Big Game Hunter’s coat, where he dropped it on the floor hours ago. The fur is soft in her fragile hands as she hugs it close to her, letting her tears stain his coat as she mumbles incomprehensible phrases.

She misses him.

It’s a truth she’s been trying to deny for, well, ten minutes, but it seems like  _ so  _ much longer. But she misses him.  _ He’s _ supposed to get out. He deserves- deserved- to more than anyone else. More than her.

Eva wants to punch Arthur for not seeming to care, and she can bet a thousand bucks that the ritual will be a trick. And of course, that makes her miss him more, because he is- was- the most hopeful person out there, and right now, and if he were here, he would probably be hugging her and telling her everything was ok. She wishes more than life itself that he could be there, even just to smile at her. Even to see the other man’s stupid grin would mean the world.

But it’s impossible. He’s gone. They’re  _ both  _ gone. One kept her sane. One kept her smiling. She doesn’t know what to do or what to say, but there’s a small charm in the pocket of his jacket, so she puts in her coat pocket. To remember him by.

And then- is that  _ crying?  _ It seems to be coming from the front porch.

It can’t be Joey. he went upstairs. And Lele said she was sleeping. And Matt really didn’t seem like the crying type.

So it had to be….

Sierra Furtado sits, scrunched up, sobbing on the stairs in front of the door. The girl looks back, before simply nodding, and Eva takes it as a sign of passage. She sits down next to her old friend, letting the dark-haired girl rest her head on her shoulder. Her tears drip on Eva’s freezing arms as Eva rubs her back, trying to hold her composure. It goes on for a full two minutes before Sierra begins talking- no, blubbering.

“It’s my fault,” The Heiress sobs. “I said he was sketchy, and now… now he’s dead, Eva, he’s gone, he… he didn’t…”

Eva wraps her arm around the girl and she grips her tightly in response. There’s nothing to say. There’s nothing she  _ can  _ say. Six of her friends are dead and gone, and everyone’s falling apart without them. Eva simply closes her eyes, brushing her hand over the charm in her pocket.

She can’t bring him back.

But maybe, she can let him stay.


End file.
